Talking with your hands can trigger images that help solve complex problems bearing on spatial visualisation, an important skill for both students and professionals.
Spatial visualisation is the ability to mentally rotate or move an object to a different position or view.
An air traffic controller uses spatial visualisation to mentally track planes in the air based only on a two-dimensional radar screen, reports the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. An interior decorator needs spatial visualisation to picture how a living room will look with a sofa in different positions without actually moving the sofa, according to a University of Birmingham statement. “Hand gestures are spontaneous and don’t need to be taught, but they can improve spatial visualisation,” said psychologist Mingyuan Chu, who conducted the research with psychologist Sotaro Kita, at the University of Birmingham, UK. “From Galileo and Einstein to da Vinci and Picasso, influential scientific discoveries and artistic masterpieces might never have been achieved without extraordinary spatial visualisation skills.” Researchers tested 132 students individually at the University of Birmingham.
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‘A sneeze can contaminate room for hours’
London: Suffering from flu? Be sure that you don’t sneeze inside your office, as scientists have found that just a single sneeze from a flu sufferer can contaminate an entire room for hours.
Researchers at Virginia Tech in the US found that the microscopic infected droplets emitted in a cough or sneeze float around the air in large enough concentrations to spread disease.
Breathing in airborne specks of virus found in a typical office, hospital, plane or train could infect a person after just one hour, the Daily Mail reported. Flu passes from person to person through direct physical contact, or when someone sneezes or coughs. Most studies have concentrated on large droplets, known as aerosols, that carry the virus in the air but which quickly fall to the floor and nearby surfaces. —PTI